


Straining to Win the Sky

by Skitz_phenom



Category: Valor Series - Tanya Huff
Genre: Alien Culture, Krai rituals, M/M, Multi, Off-screen multi-ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 18:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9839180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skitz_phenom/pseuds/Skitz_phenom
Summary: "... So there’s this tradition…” Werst let that trail off, already feeling foolish. He knew his nostril ridges were flat and there was heat pricking at the skin of his cheeks and ears.“A Krai tradition?” Torin supplied helpfully.“Yeah,” Werst nodded. “It’s nearly been a full lunar cycle since Ressk and I–”“Oh my god!” Binti interrupted with unabashed delight. “Is it your anniversary?”Werst enlists the aid of his crew to arrange a surprise for his bonded.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TwoMenAndAGuava (drakkynfyre47)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drakkynfyre47/gifts).



> Written for the first Valor Fic Exchange!
> 
> Twomenandaguava, I simply adored your prompt of exploring Krai culture and I probably had a bit too much fun with this. :) (I also desperately needed to throw in that bit of OT7 you mentioned - because I found the idea utterly delightful - even if only briefly!) I really loved writing this for you and I hope it's something you enjoy! Again, thank you for your patience and understanding for the delay in posting!
> 
> Jinx, dear: thank you so much for the beta (esp. amongst such tough circumstances)! You were entirely correct about the linear structure, and I'm grateful for your assistance in revamping. :D *hugs*

“So what’ve you found?”

Werst paused in the corridor just outside the galley; he listened to the ongoing conversation inside, identifying its' participants voices through the bulkhead.

“It says we ordered twelve cases, and the inventory reconciliation says we received twelve cases and loaded twelve cases, but I’m only finding–“

 _Mashona_. And?

“Eleven cases?”

 _Gunny_. Perfect. Just who he’d wanted to talk to.

“Yeah. See?”

Werst stepped into the galley just as Binti slid her slate across the tabletop, spinning it with her fingers as she did so – unnecessarily as the screens auto-rotated – and pushed it between Torin’s spread elbows. Head propped on her hands, Torin stared down at whatever data was being displayed with a small frown.

“Told you we shouldn’t have let those _serley_ pricks on Centari Station load for us, Gunny,” Werst said, slightly chastising.

Torin looked up at him, brows furrowed. “It’s a Justice-reimbursed station, Werst. They know they’ll lose their contract if they fleece us.”

Binti shrugged. “Doesn’t mean there isn’t a docker looking to make a little money on the side, selling stolen goods. A case here, a carton there.” She drummed her fingers thoughtfully on the table. “Or maybe it’s a data glitch? Maybe something scanned in double? Although the system should alert to that. Both on the ship and on the station.”

“What’re we talking about anyway?” Werst asked, because faulty data systems were outside of his purview, but being short of gear needed for missions was firmly in. “KC-7 Ammo? Grenades?”

“Cookies,” Binti replied, pushing a silvery foil package over to him. The seal had been torn and there were already a few of the chocolate-coated discs missing from their corrugated inner sleeve.

“Cookies,” Werst parroted flatly. He rubbed a hand over the top of his head, blaming his preoccupation for having overlooked the fact that both Binti and Torin had smudges on their fingertips and that there were tell-tale crumbs on the table.

“Hey,” Binti protested, correctly reading that Werst was unimpressed with the subject in question. “We paid for those cookies. We shouldn’t get short-changed on those cookies.” She pulled the package back, fished out a cookie and took a demonstrative bite. To a Krai that was almost flirting. Normally he’d have shown her some teeth, or chomped down on a cookie of his own, but Werst had something on his mind.

Torin noticed. She’d been reaching for the package herself but let her arm fall back to the table, her attention fully on him now. “What’s up, Werst?”

The hand that had been rubbing over the bristly hairs on his head moved further back to pinch at the taut muscles of his neck. “Uhm, it’s kind of personal.”

Gesturing to the door with the wave of an arm, Binti asked, "Do you need me to leave?”

Werst shook his head. This was going to involve the whole crew, so there was no need for her to leave the room. Still, this wasn’t easy for him to ask. “No, it’s just that… uh. So there’s this tradition…” He let that trail off, already feeling foolish. He knew his nostril ridges were flat and there was heat pricking at the skin of his cheeks and ears.

“A Krai tradition?” Torin supplied helpfully.

“Yeah,” Werst nodded. “It’s nearly been a full lunar cycle since Ressk and I–”

“Oh my god!” Binti interrupted with unabashed delight. “Is it your anniversary?”

Werst rolled his eyes, but… essentially, she was right. And damn, even Torin’s expression had gone all fond and knowing. The blush had to be burning his face bright magenta by this point. “Okay, yes,” he admitted. “It’s something like that. There’s a ceremonial…” he flipped a hand in the air vaguely, “…thing that’s sort of tradition–”

Again, he was cut-off. This time by Torin who spread her hands, palms up. “Say no more, Werst. Do you need to go back to the Krai homeworld for this? I’m sure we can accommodate that.”

Before she could go rearranging their flight-plan or suggest any kind of delay in their latest assignment from the Justice department, Werst shook his head. “No, it doesn’t need to be there. Just, ahh, any planet with trees? I guess?”

“What is this ritual?”

He didn’t expect Torin to know about it, although she often surprised him with the esoteric knowledge she had of the Younger Races. “It’s called the _Seeterrck_. In Federate, the _Seeding_.” It was a word from an archaic Krai language; most Krai referred to it by the latter these days.

In truth, he’d only ever been to one _Seeding_ in his youth (his _jernet’s_ cousin, one branch removed) so he was kind of playing it from memory, but he definitely knew it required trees. It was an ancient ritual that had fallen more and more out of favor with the younger generations of Krai, especially as they were less and less likely to stay on-planet, in the trees, like their elders.

Still, Ressk’s family – high-trees and old roots - was the more traditional sort. Ressk’s own _jernil_ and _jernine_ had presented the pair of them with the Kaoku seeds because it was a ceremonial part of the bonding, but Werst could tell they didn’t just view it as a token offering. He knew they weren’t the type who just left their seeds to gather dust in a drawer or displayed them in some cheesy wall-hanging (his own parents had theirs woven into a decorative wreath); they expected those _Koaku_ seeds would be planted.

“Okay,” Torin agreed, easily. “We can definitely find a planet on our route that’s got trees.” She scratched thoughtfully at her chin. “Isn’t there a Niln outpost in the system that we’re folding to?” She looked to Binti for confirmation.

Binti shrugged. “Not sure. You’d have to check with Alamber. He did the systems-study on this mission.”

“Right. We can check with him.” She turned back to Werst. “Do you need us to just drop you off for a couple of days or…?”

This is where it got a little weird for him. “Not exactly. This ceremony. It’s not just for the two of us. It’s kind of a friends or family thing.”

Torin’s eyes went a bit wide, but she simply nodded. “So, does that mean you want us to go with you? To participate?”

Relieved that she’d caught on, Werst nodded again. His nostrils fluttered a bit, but he was mostly feeling good about how easy this had gone down. “Yeah, we’d both like that. It’s important to have the people closest to you there.” He forced his nose ridges to stay open and kept his teeth covered despite the urge to bare them.

The grin pushing dimples into Binti’s cheeks likely meant he wasn’t going to hear the end of this any time soon, but she didn’t give him any _revenk_ about it now, and Torin just said, “We’d be honored.”

“Great. That’s great. Uh, I’ll fill you all in on the details once we find a suitable planet. Oh,” he added, before he could forget. “It’s sort of a surprise. So don’t tell Ressk.”

That, apparently, wasn’t something Binti could ignore. “You want to _surprise_ Ressk? But, doesn’t he know it’s your anniversary?”

Grumbling under his breath a moment, Werst debated how much information he wanted to share. “Yeah, of course he knows _that_.” Ressk had been suggesting they celebrate it by taking a few days leave after the current mission to go to some cheesy all-inclusive, multi-species, planet-side resort that boasted some of the ‘best chefs in the known galaxy’.

He’d never even brought up the _Seeding_.

And it wasn’t as if Werst was going to turn down a long weekend of exotic food and energetic sex… but this felt important. He’d – mostly – gotten over the class differences between him and his bonded, but sharing this tradition with Ressk felt like something he _had_ to do. Like something Ressk deserved.

“He knows it’s the anniversary of our bonding,” Werst repeated, “but he doesn’t know I want to do this. I want to surprise him with this.” He probably should’ve explained better, maybe given them a cursory understanding of why, but he couldn’t find the words.

Thankfully, Torin trusted him without needing to hear them. Which was exactly why he felt that she and the rest of the crew deserved to be a part of it, and why he wanted them all there.

“We can definitely try,” Torin agreed wryly. “If we’re able. If he suspects anything’s up, you know how he gets.”

“Yeah,” Binti agreed. “He’s like a dog with a bone when he’s trying to dig up the truth.” When Werst just frowned at the idiom, she and Torin exchanged a look.

“Hollice?” Torin asked, quirking a brow like she was trying to place it.

“Hollice,” Binti confirmed, smile drooping – just slightly – for a moment. Then she waved that away with a flick of fingers, looking up at Werst again. “We’ll do our best, Werst.”

Werst knew the name – Ressk had told him plenty of stories – so even if he didn’t quite follow, he just gave a jerky nod and followed it with a smirk. “Thanks. I’ll uh, leave you to your inventory problem then.”

He snagged a pair of cookies on his way out the door.

***~~~***~~~***~~~

“ _Serley chickra_ ,” Werst grumbled, his thumbs stabbing frantically at his slate.

“Losing again?” Ressk asked. He was reclining in the co-pilot’s seat, toes of one foot tapping at something on the console while he half-heartedly focused on his own slate in his hands. An empty mug hung off the little toe of his other foot, which was propped on the pilot’s chair.

“No,” Werst lied. He refused to acknowledge that he was losing the latest level of his game for the third time that morning.

Before Ressk could call him on his bullshit, Alamber leaned past the bulkhead with a slightly tentative, “Hey, Werst?”

Cursing a final time, Werst admitted defeat, powered down his game and hung his slate on his belt. He looked up at Alamber and in his periphery could see Ressk twisting around in his seat to do the same. “Hey. What’s up?

Alamber made a vague gesture over his shoulder. “If you’re not busy, could you come to the gym and help me with uh… that thing we talked about?”

Werst stopped himself from face-palming or rolling his eyes or groaning – albeit, just barely – and managed a clipped, “Yeah, sure. Gimme a sec.”

“Great!” The icy blue strands of Alamber’s hair waved energetically. “I’ll meet you there.” Both he and his hair bounced out of control.

“Thing?” Ressk echoed as soon as the di’Taykan was out of sight.

Werst was going to kill him. Alamber was supposed to be _good_ at subtle and this was anything but! Scrubbing at the back of his neck, he scrambled for a semi-plausible excuse. “It’s nothing. Just the kid wants some coaching in the gym.” He spread his hands, buying himself long enough to decide just how much he should elaborate. “I think he’s feeling like he might be a liability at times.”

Ressk’s brows lifted. “What does that mean?”

“You know,” Werst flipped a hand. “He’s got all the techie stuff down, but he gets a little unsure in combat situations. I think he’s bugging Binti to help him with target practice, and I said I’d work on some hand-to-hand.” It sounded plausible enough to his own ears; he just had to hope his bonded bought it.

“Huh,” Ressk shrugged. “I suppose that’s not a bad idea. Need any help?”

“Nah,” Werst hurried to wave the offer away. “At least not right now. I’ll get him started on the basics. Maybe when he’s got those down we can try a little two-on-one. Besides, you’re on duty up here.” He grinned.

Sighing, Ressk nodded. “Yeah, true. Well, you’d better not keep him waiting. I need to get back to my oh-so important and hectic work.” He rolled his eyes as he turned back in his seat, once again settling in a slouch, fingers and toes back in action.

Werst stepped up behind the console chair and cupped the back of Ressk’s head, scraping his fingers through the bristles. “I’ll come back and keep you company when I’m done,” he promised, pressing a quick kiss to the mottled skin behind an ear.

“You’d better,” Ressk muttered, but Werst could see the hint of a smile pushing into the corner of his mouth.

He left with one final scritch of Ressk’s scalp and then went in search of Alamber in the gym. Werst wasn’t surprised to find him lying on the padded bench of one of their three multi-system pieces of exercise equipment, studying the purple lacquer on his nails. “You could’ve done some actual working-out while you waited.”

Alamber sat up slowly, grinning slyly at Werst the whole time. “Well sure, I could’ve, but then I’d have had to change clothes, and this outfit is just too good to waste.” He gestured down at himself and the diaphanous layers of silver-trimmed lavender that fluttered around him with each movement.

Werst didn’t bother pointing out that the outfit _was_ going to waste since the only ones to see it were the team, but he refrained. Instead he pointed out something else. “You realize, by the way, that your vague request for help on a _thing_ ”–he did air quotes–“was the furthest thing from subtle. I thought you were supposed be good at being sneaky.”

“Oh, that was on purpose, _trin_ ,” Alamber teased. When Werst frowned, he looked a bit affronted that his genius had gone unappreciated. “It was misdirection by way of suspicion. Look, if I’d asked for your help about something specific, something that Ressk didn’t know about before hand, _that_ would’ve been too obvious. Ressk would’ve started to wonder about it, maybe gotten curious. But leaving you with that little air of mystery brought the curiosity to the forefront right away. And, besides, I’m sure you came up with a good excuse.” He waggled his brows, eyes lightened to a shade almost paler than his hair.

Rolling his eyes, Werst was quick to assure him, “He doesn’t think we’re fukking.”

Predictably, Alamber’s mouth pursed in a little pout. “Oh, well… What does he think? Just so I know when he asks about it later. Which you _know_ he’ll do.”

Werst couldn’t disagree with that. “Practicing hand-to-hand combat. Which actually isn’t a bad idea, you know.”

Alamber scoffed, but then looked like he was actually considering it. “Well, you’re probably right about that. But, not right now. Now,” he said waving Werst closer and pulling out a slate, “we have a surprise ceremony to plan.”

With Torin’s help, they’d already found a suitable planet – the Niln outpost she’d suggested was heavily forested and sparsely populated which was the ideal combination – and even concocted a plausible cover-story for why they’d need to stop-over (since Ressk had full access to their telemetry and navigation, they couldn’t just sneak a course-change in without his knowing). Over the past two days he’d taken each of the rest of them aside to fill them in on the details of the _Seeding_ itself.

It wasn’t anything too complex; mostly just a gathering of available family and friends (of which Werst considered his crew _both_ ) and then a night of food, drink and festivity under the trees. The most ‘ritual’ part about it, aside from the actual planting of the seeds, was that every attendee had to share a personal anecdote about one of the bonded pair. That part had given him the most concern, but no one objected to the idea (and Binti seemed _far_ too eager about it).

With Alamber in charge of the crew’s funding, and also the biggest social butterfly of lot, it made sense to leave the details of the ‘party’ part of things to him. Werst wasn’t surprised that when he started going over the details, particularly about the food, that he had almost everything outlined in an organized database on his slate.

They argued here and there – again mostly about food (Alamber’d said a firm ‘no’ to the _seleeamir_ , since they were flagged in the inventory system as restricted to Krai only; Werst finally caved on that because Alamber promised he’d coax Binti into trying her hand at _ajuklae_ ) – but he was pleasantly surprised and touched by how seriously the di’Taykan had been about making arrangements.

Menu decided, there were only a few minor items yet to arrange. They didn’t have much in the way of alcohol on board the _Promise_ , just a few crates of beer, but the Niln outpost stocked a locally-made fruit liquor that they’d be able to buy in quantity before they headed to the woods.

“So, are you sure about this part?” Alamber asked, pointing to a section of his planner program. He tapped the slate, highlighting the little square of text and zooming in on his notes. It showed their suggested campsite based on the data they’d downloaded from the nearest navigation bouy. He suspected Alamber questioned it solely due to the distance from the Niln outpost itself. They’d have a bit of a hike.

“Yes,” Werst said. “The whole point of the _Seeding_ is to plant the _Koaku_ seeds near trees. Away from civilization. They need the presence of other trees in order to blossom.”

A little frown was still playing at Alamber’s lips though, and his hair flipped from one side to the other, in not-quite agitation. “So, how come it’s okay that you’re doing this on some random outpost? Why not go back home? Plant them somewhere you’re likely to visit again?”

It was a good question, though one that wouldn’t be completely comfortable for him to answer. He was never big on yammering on about culture and history. A moment passed – not a very long one – where Werst debated just telling him to forget it, but he took one look more at Alamber’s extensive ‘party plan’ (color-coordinated icons for each specific element) and it wasn’t a choice at all. “Actually, it’s rare for the _Seeding_ to be done on any Krai systems anymore. It happens, sometimes, but even then the bonded pair will do their planting in the high trees, well away from heavily populated areas.” Before Alamber could ask why again, he went on, “The whole point is that you’re leaving a mark of your commitment somewhere beyond where you bonded. It’s meant to express how your bond has grown.”

“Long ago,” he explained when Alamber still looked slightly confused, “when the first Krai came down from the trees, it was especially dangerous to roam the forest floor. Gathering the _Koaku_ seeds and then having the temerity to plant them was considered a bold act. It was one that was often undertaken by young male Krai wishing to impress potential bondmates. So, the distance thing… the further you went to plant the seed, the more worthy you were. The tradition changed over the years, obviously, and eventually became the ritual we know today.”

Alamber was quiet a moment while he processed all of that. “So,” he said after chewing at his lip, “it kind of means that the bigger the distance the bigger the love?”

Werst shrugged. It wasn’t quite that… but close enough.

Smile growing wicked, Alamber gave Werst a slow once-over. “That’s some pretty big _love_ there, Werst. I think I’m kinda jealous of Ressk now.”

“ _Serley chickra_ ,” Werst shot back, shoving at Alamber’s shoulder. “Just for that you’re going to do some reps on the heavy bag.” He pointed with a toe. “We need it to look like you did _something_ in here.”

“But…I’ll sweat.”

“You’re willing to work up a sweat in other ways,” Werst pointed out, not needing to clarify what those ways were.

“Yeah, but I’m usually naked then.” His eyes lightened and his hair went taut. “I could do that now.”

Werst just stood firm and pointed again at the heavy bag.

None of Alamber’s attempts at threat, bribery or blackmail had any effect, though Werst did relent before he could work up _too_ much of a sweat and ruin his outfit. He had to admit, it actually looked nice on the kid.

***~~~***~~~***~~~

“Think he’s caught on?” Binti asked, voice low as she crouched down next to Werst to rearrange her pack for the third time.

Werst shook his head. Then thought better of it and turned the motion into a half-shrug. Not a gesture native to his species, he still managed it semi-naturally. “I think he’s wondering about this sudden need for a stopover at a Niln outpost. But he’s too used to not questioning Gunny’s decisions to wonder _too_ hard.” Which was kind of hypocritical for him say since both of the people in this conversation suffered from that same affliction.

From the look she shot him, Binti caught the subtext.

“How’re you gonna spring it on him?”

Werst frowned at her. “Gunny said she talked to you all about that. The emergency in the hangar?”

“No,” Binti snorted, elbowing him in the ribs, “not the surprise part. I mean, how’re you gonna say it? About the _Seeding_. Don’t you have anything planned?”

“It’s not a proposal, for fuk’s sake.” Werst shouldered right back. “We’re kinda past that part.”

“Ugh, I know that, dipshit.” This time he dodged the elbow. “But haven’t you thought about what you’re gonna say? Like, not just the ‘hey, surprise, happy anniversary’ but the whole, ‘let’s do this kinda archaic Krai ritual together’ thing.”

He shrugged again, much more demonstratively this time.

Binti turned, eyes wide. “You don’t know?”

“Uh, I’m still working that out.”

“You’re kinda running out of time here, you know.” She gestured to the pack which was being readied for loading on the shuttle. The shuttle they were going to be taking down to the Niln outpost in just under two hours.

 Werst sighed. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

Shifting the last few items around in her pack, Binti went silent a moment. Once she’d pushed it back into place with the others she sat back on her heels. “You should talk to Craig,” she suggested.

“Craig?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “He’s got more experience with this kind of thing.” When Werst raised both brows and nose ridges, Binti sighed. “The romantic gestures thing. He’s a civilian”– she ignored the look he shot her that said ‘we’re civilians now too, dumbass’–“I mean, he’s got more experience with this stuff than us grunts. Maybe he’ll have some idea?”

It wasn’t the worst suggestion, although Werst didn’t exactly relish the idea of bringing it up with Craig. “Maybe I will.”

Binti shoved him. “Well go on then. Time’s running short.” She smirked. “And so are you. So, get to it.”

He bared his teeth at her, but had to admit she was right. Sighing, Werst flipped a middle finger to her grinning face and left her to organizing the gear.

He found Craig alone in the control room. He was sitting in the pilot’s chair with his feet propped up on the console. He’d be piloting them into the atmosphere of the outpost and getting them docked at the orbital station. They’d shuttle down to the planet itself.

When Werst climbed onto the co-pilot’s seat next to him, Craig just lifted an eyebrow at him in greeting. “You’ve got the look of a man with something on his mind.”

Werst wondered just how much of Gunny was rubbing off on him.

“Need your advice."

Craig’s brow furrowed. “About?”

The words came out a bit more bitten off than he’d have preferred, but Werst managed to spit out, “What do I say? To Ressk?”

“About?” Craig repeated. He held up a hand, palm out, when Werst bared his upper teeth. “Hey, relax, mate. I’m just trying to make sure I understand the question.”

Running a hand over his face, physically dragging his upper lip down, Werst nodded slowly. “Right, sorry. I’m just…” he peeled the hand off his face and flipped it in the air.

“Anxious? Nervous?”

Werst’s lip curled. “Don’t push it. I bite when I’m tense.”

Craig just chuckled. “C’mon, mate. Spit it out.”

Werst sighed. “I don’t know how to tell him about the _Seeding_. I mean, yeah we’re gonna surprise him and everything. I know that’s all planned”– and scheduled to happen in just over an hour –“but I don’t know how to tell him I wanna do the ritual.”

It hadn’t killed him to admit it, but Werst still felt a squirming feeling in his gut. Which was a weird sensation for him, since nothing usually upset a Krai stomach. He eyed Craig warily, looking for signs that he might be amused, but the other man was just staring thoughtfully at the viewscreen, like he was giving it genuine consideration.

A few minutes later a beaming smile split Craig’s lips. On a Krai it would’ve been a full-on battle challenge. “I’ve got it,” he said, snapping his fingers. “You’ve got actual seeds, right?”

Frowning slightly, Werst nodded.

“That’s your answer then,” Craig said like that explained everything.

“What is?”

“The seeds!” Craig exclaimed. “All you have to do is show him the seeds. Ressk’s a smart guy. He’ll catch on.”

Werst thought about; he tried to visualize how Ressk would react when he presented the seeds. Would he need to say anything? Probably not. Craig was right; Ressk was incredibly smart. He wouldn’t need any kind of speech or grand declaration.

Nodding slowly, Werst agreed. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.” He eyed Craig with what might’ve been admiration.

“Not just another pretty face here, mate.”

Hopping off the seat, Werst snorted. “Good thing too. Gunny would’ve gotten bored with that in no time.”

Craig was laughing as Werst left the control room and headed to the gym. A workout was just what he needed to bleed off the tension that was sending spikes of pain up his shoulders and into his jaw. Plus, it had the added benefit of killing time.

What felt like too short – or maybe too long, he couldn’t make up his mind – a time later he’d finished an abbreviated version of his normal exercise routine, showered, dressed, and stood staring down at the _Koaku_ seeds.

He held them both in one hand and studied the brown and green striated, slightly ovoid kernels. _Koaku_ trees were a hardy species and supposedly their seeds could live on almost indefinitely. He’d known a Private in another 1 st Battalion company that Sh’quo had shipped out with once who’d told a story about a _Koaku_ seed his _jernil_ had left to him, and had apparently come from her _jernil_. He’d carried the seed for luck and been planetside when his combats had been shredded by artillery shrapnel and hadn’t realized the seed had been lost in the mud. Several days later, after their squad had retaken the valley from the _Others_ (Primacy, whatever) he’d discovered a knee-high _Koaku_ sproutling. Werst had been doubtful, but the Private had kept a tiny leaf from it as proof, and there was no denying it was the distinctively shaped leaf of a _Koaku_ tree.

“What’re you doing?”

Startled, Werst stepped back from the small storage bay in the corner of their shared quarters, quickly tucking his hands behind his back as he turned. “Nothing,” he told Ressk, aiming for nonchalant. “Just, uh, looking for one of my game cartridges. You know, for the shuttle ride down to the outpost.”

All three sets of nose ridges lifting dubiously, Ressk stepped further into the room. “Really? Then what’re you hiding behind your back?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. Game cartridge, like I said.”

Ressk closed the distance, stopping just a few inches away and baring the upper row of his gleaming, white teeth. “Really?” he growled, which just emphasized the curl of his upper lip and those shapely incisors.

Werst spared a moment to admire his bonded; Ressk had _really_ great teeth. He was hot as _nerser_ when he got riled up. Closing his eyes so he could focus, Werst nodded.

“Then you won’t mind if I have a look, right?”

He felt rather than saw when Ressk wrapped fingers around his elbow, but before Ressk could pull his arm out from behind him, the ship’s alarm sounded.

Over the comms Torin’s voice called out an urgent: “Need everyone in the hangar, ASAP!”

“What the hell? Ressk muttered, and his grip changed so that he could drag Werst after him. “C’mon. We’d better see what trouble we’re in now.”

Werst hurried behind him, heart thumping in his chest. He knew what the alarm was all about and he was rather nervous as to how Ressk was going to react. They burst into the Hangar, Werst just a half-step behind his bonded, and he nearly crashed into his back when Ressk scrambled to a halt.

Torin, Craig, Binti and Alamber were all standing in front of the shuttle; a lop-sided banner hung between them all that read ‘Happy Anniversary!’

“Surprise!” five voices called out in unison; Werst’s was one of them.

Ressk spun to look at him, nose ridges flaring. “Wha?”

Cheeks hot, Werst finally drew his hands out from behind his back so that Ressk could see what he’d been hiding. Cupped, one in each palm, were the pair greenish-brown _Kaoku_ seeds (Torin had said they looked a little like large acorns, whatever those were). “Uh, surprise?” Werst repeated.

Eyes going wide, Ressk stared down at the seeds and then looked back up at Werst in confusion. “I don’t… what are you doing with those?”

“It’s been a year,” he said simply. “We’re due to plant these.”

Werst didn’t know how to describe the expression that crossed Ressk’s face at that, but it looked equal parts shocked, delighted and besotted. “Really? You wanna do the _Seeding_?” His gaze darted down to the seeds again, and he reached a hand out to lay it gently over one of Werst’s, closing a _Koaku_ seed between their palms. His eyes flitted up to Werst again and they were suspiciously shiny, “Really?”

“Hell yes,” Werst replied, unable to keep his own nose ridges from shaking. There may have been a bit of moisture gathering at the corner of his eyes, but he’d deny it if asked. “So what do you say, _chrick_ and geeky? Wanna plant our seeds?”

***~~~***~~~***~~~

_“You almost done in there?” Mysho hollered, raising her voice to be heard over the noise of the shower. She had her fingers tangled with Binti’s and was bouncing on her heels in a repetition that sent her pale hair waving rhythmically._

_“Almost!” A voice called out that might’ve been Checya’s, though it was difficult to tell through the bulkhead and the sound of spraying water. Could’ve also been Ressk. Or Hollice. Definitely wasn’t Glicksohn._

_“You could join us you know!” That voice didn’t need to be clear to know it had been Haysole._

_Mysho quirked an eyebrow. “We could you know,” she said softly, grinning down at Binti with an inviting waggle of her brows._

_It made Binti laugh because she knew both di’Taykan flirting_ and _Mysho well enough to understand that she’d be open for her statement to be interpreted as a jest, or as a genuine offer. To her surprise, Binti found herself considering the latter._

_They’d ceded the shower to the men – well, lost the toss for it – and hadn’t joined in simply because they wanted a bit of… private time. It wasn’t often that Binti gave in to the temptation of her squad-mate. Mysho was capable and funny and attractive and… a di’ phase Taykan through-and-through. It was the last part that put her on the ‘off-limits’ category most of the time. Binti never sought out the enthusiastic and indiscriminate aliens – in her squad or otherwise – for casual, scratch-an-itch sex. There were times, however, infrequent and rare, when Binti wanted more than just sex; she wanted… needed a comfort that could only come from someone who understood. And who understood better than her friends, her squad?_

_Only a few hours ago they’d been planet-side, hip-deep in muck and blood and soaked to the skin beneath a frigid, perpetually grey, rainy sky. Combats had kept the water out the first few days, but the brutal combination of wretched, jagged terrain and enemy weapon fire took their toll even on the best tech. There wasn’t a body among them that didn’t have stinking, squelching mud soaked and ground into every crease and crevice._

_Their planetfall had been a long, dreary trudge and they’d lost a half-dozen Marines and it was impossible to tell which side had come away the victor in the engagement. Her and Mysho’s fireteams – well, those who hadn’t been carted off to medical on the first VTA - had been the last to load onto the final VTA (barring their Sergeant and Gunny, of course). They’d been shivering and wary and hoping beyond hope that they’d make it off the ground before the Other’s managed to regroup, desperate to leave that miserable fukking planet behind._

_Standing naked just outside the showers, feeling escaping steam already starting to melt away the grime, and hearing the relieved, welcome joviality of the others made the choice an easy one. “Yeah,” Binti finally said, matching Mysho’s grin. “Let’s go.”_

_Mysho hesitated only for a moment (surprised, maybe?) and then her eyes went dark while her smile curled even deeper into her cheeks._

_There were protests as soon as they shuffled onto the wet plasti-tile and into the communal cubicle: “Hey! We won that flip fair. Benny landed safety side-up.” And, “C’mon. You two said you wanted some alone-time. It’s crowded in here!”_

_One voice carried over the rest, however, and it was far from objecting. “Don’t listen to them! The more the merrier. Plenty of soap to go around.”_

_The rather high-pitched shout that followed, “Hey! That’s not the soap!” set them all laughing even as she and Mysho made it rather clear what they were after._

_Glicksohn’s, “As your Sergeant, I feel obligated to point out that fraternization rules–” was cut off sharply with a groan. And Ressk’s, “Really, all of us?” was met with a resoundingly enthusiastic, “Hell, yes!” (which had surprisingly come from Checya). Hollice stayed uncharacteristically quiet on the matter – no odd, old-earth idiom to share – but made up for his silence in actions._

_This, Binti decided as several soapy hands worked at massaging knotted muscles and lathering her all at once, was exactly what she needed–_

“That’s _not_ how I remember it,” Ressk broke in, cutting off Binti’s rather detailed recitation with a grumble. Already ruddy-skinned by the firelight, it was difficult for Werst to tell if he was blushing.

“Well, I’m telling it,” Binti shot back, a wicked curve to her smile. “And that’s how I remember things.”

Ressk flattened the whole of his palm over his face and dragged it down slowly, griping just barely audibly. “Fukking _serley chirka_.”

Across the fire, reclined against Craig’s chest, Torin had already fixed them both with a speculative lift of brows. “Wait, wait, wait… The _entire_ fireteam, Ressk? All at once?”

“Plus half of Mysho’s,” Binti added helpfully. “And Glicksohn.”

“Mike?” Torin blurted, eyes bulging.

“I think we’ve heard enough,” Ressk said flatly, not deigning to answer. Although Binti’s snickering and his own inability to look Torin in the eye were answer enough.

Werst cleared his throat. “Nah, let’s hear the rest. Just what did you get up to in that shower?” He stroked a hand over the back of Ressk’s neck and bared his teeth. Challenging. Teasing.

It was only fair. Before Binti started in with her story, Werst had been the subject of Craig’s (his point of view on the entire situation on Big Yellow with Captain Travik had been ridiculously exaggerated, but definitely amusing) and Alamber’s (who’d chosen to recall a rather embarrassing anecdote of the time he and Werst had gone ‘undercover’ as members of a Katrien circus in one of their first jobs for the Wardens). Torin had figured it was only fair that she get to take two turns, since she’d known them both before they’d even met each other. Her stories were geared toward her time with each of them in the marines, but even she managed to find some really, really humiliating events to recount.

Curling his upper lip right back, Ressk smacked his bonded across the shoulder with a foot (his hands were folding tightly back around his mug of _sah,_ gripping it a bit desperately).

“C’mon, Binti,” Alamber urged, “you can’t leave things there. I need details. Positions. Who did what to who?”

Fortunately for Ressk, Binti just rolled her eyes and tossed her empty beer pouch at him. Alamber had the good sense to duck, although it still managed to bounce off of his shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at her.

Binti pulled the tab on another pouch, took a long pull, and then lifted it in a clumsy toast. “Werst said that it was tradition for friends and or family of the bonded couple to share stories and fond memories about them. He never said they couldn’t be smutty.”

“ _Nice_ stories,” Ressk muttered. “Funny stories. Fluffy, happy H’san singing at sunrise kind of shit.” He waved a foot around rather shakily. It was possible he’d added a bit too much of the dark, syrupy Niln liquor to his _sah_. “Not embarrassing stories about the times our fireteams screwed around. No one wants to hear that.”

“Wait just another minute,” Torin interjected before Binti had a chance to respond (though not before Alamber managed a quick and enthusiastic, “I do!”). “ _Times_ , Ressk?”

He frowned.

“You said _times_ , Ressk. With an ‘ess’. Meaning multiple. Implying that this happened on more than one occasion.” She looked from him to Binti and then back again.

Ressk suddenly seemed to find something very interesting in the depths of his mug. Binti, however, just grinned wider and gave a slow nod.

Torin looked torn between amusement and genuine upset. “But, but…” she gawped silently a moment. “There were fraternization rules for a reason.”

Binti blew out a hissing sort of dismissive breath and flailed an arm. “di’Taykan involved, Gunny. Hard to know where to draw the line. You know how it was.” She frowned. “Well, or… uh, maybe you didn’t know… I don’t know if you ever...” She let that trail off, which was probably a smart move from the look eye-daggers look Torin shot her way.

Werst cocked his head. “Yeah, Gunny, didn’t you tell me you’d once hooked up with your Second?” He figured he owed it to his bonded to rescue him from his embarrassment (though he was _definitely_ going to ask for details about that shower later), and redirection was as good a tactic as any.

“What?” Binti blurted at the same time that Ressk nearly sprayed a mouthful of _sah_ as he gasped out, “Who?!”

“What’s this then?” Craig asked, curiosity clearly piqued.

Fixing Werst with a ‘you will spend a month on latrine duty’ glare, Torin shook her head. “Nope. No way. We’re here to embarrass the shit out of the happy couple over there.” She nodded toward the Krai. “You can leave me out of it.”

Unfortunately for her, Ressk wasn’t quite drunk enough to not be able to do the mental math. “Wait, so it had to be a di’Taykan. And it was probably before Big Yellow” – his eyes flicked to Craig for a moment – “and it was likely a male…” He trailed off to look at Binti.

Who was looking back with a matching, shit-eating grin. “Jarret!” they exclaimed at the same time.

Groaning, Torin fell back against Craig’s chest. “It was _before_ I knew he was my new Second Lieutenant, so it doesn’t count, and besides, we’re not talking about me,” she reminded them. “And how did I not know that you both had an ongoing thing with two fireteams?” She sounded much more concerned about the second issue. “I knew _everything_ that went on behind closed doors in my squad.” There was almost a pout beneath the words.

“Yeah, well. You knew all the important stuff, sure,” Ressk agreed, sounding only mildly placating. “But let’s be fair. You never did care about who was fukking who, Gunny,” he said simply, and then he snorted fondly. “Especially when Haysole was involved.”

She thought on that a minute and then shrugged. “You’ve got a point.” Then she shook her head, like she couldn’t stop the words from coming. “Haysole? Really, Ressk?” Her smile was a bit sloppy when she said it though and her were eyes soft and fond.

Binti snorted, “C’mon, Gunny. There probably wasn’t a person in the platoon… hell, the whole battalion who Haysole didn’t hook up with at least once.”

“Except Corporal Conn,” Ressk amended.

“Right,” Binti nodded. “Except Conn. Though not for lack of trying.”

Torin shook her head again, but she was wearing an almost identical grin as the others. “I don’t know whether to be shocked, or impressed…”

“Both,” Binti and Ressk said in unison.

Werst just chuckled at the way Torin eyed those two speculatively. Although he couldn’t blame her. A di’Taykan he could understand, even if he didn’t always see the appeal, but human – more than one – thrown in the mix? And how had he and Binti never mentioned it?

He gave Ressk a sideward glance, but his bonded was downing the rest of his _sah_. He didn’t even look like he was embarrassed by Binti’s over-sharing any more. _Definitely_ too much of the Niln liquor.

“I hate to be the one to bring this oh-so glorious session of over-sharing to a close,” Craig said, pulling Torin back to settle against him once again. “But, as it’s getting late and none of you are getting any less bombed out, isn’t there another part to this _Seeding_ ritual? One that involves the actual seeds.” He gestured to the pack Werst was using as a backrest.

“Oh, yes,” Ressk nodded fervently. “There _will_ be planting.” He somehow managed to waggle his nostril ridges suggestively.

“The planting happens at sunrise,” Werst explained, patting Ressk’s shoulder fondly. Obviously he was the more sober of the two. “The whole of the ritual involves the feasting,” he gestured to the remains of the hasty, albeit large and varied ‘picnic’ Alamber had managed to scrounge together, “the drinking,” he hoisted his own pouch of beer a moment, “sharing stories with family friends, sleeping beneath the embrace of the trees, the ceremonial eating of the guests toes, and then finally the seed-planting at sunrise.”

Craig just nodded along like that all made sense. Werst wondered how many of the empty pouches surrounding him and Torin had been his.

Alamber, on the other hand, did a spit-take of epic proportion. “The what!?”

“Huh?” Werst managed, wholly innocently. “What?”

“What the fuk did you say about toes?”

Rubbing at his chin, Werst frowned. “Did I not mention that? I mean, you guys knew that’s what you signed-up for right? You each have to sacrifice a toe.” He waggled a thumb between them. “Well, two toes. One for each of us.”

Unfortunately for him, before he could get Alamber really worked-up, Ressk started snickering, and then chortling… it devolved pretty quickly into full-blown hysterical giggling and he fell against Werst – who managed to rescue his mug with a quick swoop of his foot – and rolled with it. It was the kind of laughter that that was impossible not to join, infectious and joyous and inviting.

Eventually, once they’d all calmed and Ressk had his breath back, he didn’t bother getting back up; he just settled into the cradle of Werst’s arms, sleepily murmuring, “Could’ve really gone for some toes, though…”

Alamber tucked his feet underneath him and mock-glared. “Stay the fuk away from my toes!” he hissed out, although quietly.

That seemed to be the cue for everyone to ready for bed. Torin cajoled Craig into helping her set-up two Marine issue smart-fabric shelters for the humans and di’Taykan. They weren’t entirely necessary as the weather was pleasantly cool and the skies were clear, not to mention each of them had the thickly padded, enviro-controlled sleeping bags that were also corp. standard issue. (Craig had once had to physically carry her out of a Military surplus store before she blew their entire mission budget on things Torin classified as ‘essentials’.) Still, she’d insisted on the shelters. Luckily the sections unfurled and sealed together easily. Werst chuckled softly when she set her and Craig’s shelter to camouflage to their surroundings, while Alamber cycled his and Binti’s to fuchsia.

“C’mon, _churick,_ ” Werst urged after watching the others for a few minutes, levering Ressk up. “You don’t get in the trees now, you’re never going to make that climb.” It wasn’t a requirement of the _Seeding_ ritual by any means, but there was no way Werst was passing up a chance to spend the night with his bonded high up in the canopy.

“Uh, you sure that’s a good idea?” Alamber nodded at Ressk who was swaying as he clambered to his feet. “Not worried you might fall out?”

Werst was _almost_ offended on behalf of his species. He snorted through lowered nose ridges and forced his lips not to curl away from his teeth when he replied. “Don’t worry, kid. He’d have to be a lot worse off than he is now for that to be a concern.” Besides, their sleeping bags would be strapped in the branches so they could use them like a hammock, but he wasn’t going to explain that to Alamber.

He managed to gather up Ressk, their gear, and the leftover fire-grilled, vat-protein kebabs (midnight snack) and got them moving toward the trees.

“G’night, you two!’ Binti called after them, giving a lascivious whistle. “Don’t have too much fun up there!”

Werst responded with a decidedly human, decidedly rude gesture, but he was grinning.

***~~~***~~~***~~~

Morning dawned, crisp and bright, as the first of the planet’s binary suns breached the horizon. Its rays filtered through the branches of the trees, scattering light and shadow as a sluggish breeze stirred the leaves with a whispery susurrus.

Werst, who’d been up before the sun, stared down at the leaf-filtered light as it dappled patterns over his bonded’s mottled skin. “C’mon, _churick_ ,” he whispered, close to Ressk’s ear. “Wake up. We’ve got seeds to plant.”

Ressk just groaned and nestled himself deeper into the bedding and against Werst’s belly. Their makeshift hammock rocked gently with the motion and between that so-familiar sensation and the heat of Ressk’s body molded against his, Werst was so very tempted to rejoin him in slumber. But, he could hear the others stirring on the ground below them – Binti swearing and urging Alamber to wake, Craig softly humming, the crinkling of what he was sure was a pouch of coffee – and knew they couldn’t keep everyone waiting.

He stroked a palm over Ressk’s bare arm, cupping his shoulder and giving a gentle shake. “Ressk, wakey-wakey.”

When that just got him more sleepy grumbling and shifting – which he really needed to move away from so that _other_ temptations didn’t keep him in bed – Werst decided to move on to more drastic measures. He poked Ressk below the ribs, digging his fingers in to the fleshy part of Ressk’s abdomen.

“Hey!” Ressk protested, squirming and slapping his hand away; but at least he was blinking up at Werst balefully. “No fair,” he groaned when a stretch of his feet rolled him in the hammock and put his face right into the path of a sunbeam. “Ugh, that Niln liquor is _ver dur ghekt_.”

Werst took pity on him and rubbed his head soothingly. “C”mon, _churick_. Let’s get dressed and climb down. Binti was going to try her hand at making _ajuklae_. Let’s go see how she did.”

Perking up at that, Ressk sat up and then gave another languorous, whole-body stretch.

Werst just admired silently.

Ressk, who could read his bonded quite well, smirked and flexed his toes showily. “Hmmm, sex or _ajuklae_. That’s a pretty damn tough call.”

It certainly was… and they were both still naked, hidden from the others high in the trees. Maybe they did have a few minutes to–

“ _Hey, you two gonna get down here, or what? Daylight’s wasting!”_

Though Werst had remembered to turn down the volume on his implant before he went to sleep, from the way Ressk was wincing, he clearly hadn’t.

“Binti better make a damn good _ajuklae_ ,” Ressk muttered murderously.

It turned out that she did. The Rakva dish, made – ironically – with small eggs, a type of honey cream and a whole lot of patience, cooked nicely over their campfire; light and fluffy just like it was supposed to be, and both Werst and Ressk had two helpings each.

“ _That_ ,” Werst enthused after a noisy belch, “is how I like to start a morning.”

Binti patted him on the head. “I’m glad you liked it.”

They lingered over breakfast for a bit longer, but there was only so long any of them were comfortable with inaction. Under Torin’s direction, they packed up their camp and readied everything for the trek back to the shuttle – nothing they’d brought got left behind – and when that was done Werst handed Ressk the pack holding the seeds and fished out a folding spade. He presented the implement to the others. “Someone other than the bonded pair needs to dig the hole.”

Craig took up the small shovel. “How deep, mate?”

Ressk filled him in on the dimensions while Werst drew a carton out of the pack. “Someone else needs to take the water,” he explained.

Torin stepped forward for that. She took it with a solemn nod.

“Anything for us?” Binti asked. Beside her, Alamber’s hair swished forward projecting his eager curiosity.

“Nothing left in the bag, but it’s part of the ritual that the remaining guests get to cover the seeds with the dirt.”

They both nodded, looking pleased at having an assigned task.

It didn’t take long for Craig to dig a suitably sized hole. They’d picked a spot where the trees could flourish: just enough shelter from the surrounding woods to protect them from harsh winds and storms, but still exposed to plenty of sun to encourage growth. They all gathered around the little mound of rich, dark soil and the knee-deep furrow.

“Wait,” Craig asked before they could begin. “Uh, this doesn’t involve reciting your full names, does it?”

Werst snorted. He was tempted to lie… just to see them all groan in misery, but it was too good a morning, and he’d had too good a night. “Nah,” he said. “That’s only the Bonding ceremony.”

Craig and Alamber both sighed in relief. They’d all been present on the Krai homeworld for his and Ressk’s bonding.

The Krai bonding, he’d learned, was rather analogous to a Human wedding, except that _most_ of the ceremony part was rather quick: a few ritual words spoken by the Priest of Ner, a blessing by the Acolyte of Turrist, a confirmation statement from each of the pair to be bonded (vows, Binti had called them), but last came the recitation of family names. It was fortunate for his crew that Werst’s background wasn’t nearly as upper-branch or venerable as Ressk’s. As it was, getting through that part had taken the better part of two hours. Torin and Binti had managed easily enough, standing at parade-rest the whole time, but Craig and Alamber had gotten fidgety and a bit wild around the eyes before it was all said and done.

Hell, Werst could’ve done without that part himself. He hadn’t had to recite his family name since he was still in the trees, and trying to remember it all had nearly given him _greelus_ (or that could’ve been the pre-ceremony feast repeating on him). He was equally glad the _Seeding_ ritual was a casual sort of thing.

Still, there were a few formal words. It was easier to speak them in Federate than in the ancient Krai tongue (he’d tried to learn them but even the translation program in the slate couldn’t quite parse over a quarter of them). Stepping forward, Werst held out his seed on his flattened palm. It wobbled just a bit as he spoke.

“To this welcoming earth I give a seed. May its roots grow deep, its trunk tall, its branches long and its leaves full and bright. And let our bond grow as the tree, steady and strong and thriving.”

He let the seed fall from his hand, watched as it tumbled into the waiting dirt, landing with a dull ‘thwup’.

Ressk stepped forward then; he repeated the same ritual words and when he turned his palm and let the _Koaku_ seed roll off, it landed next to Werst’s neatly.

Clasping hands with Ressk, the two of them stepped back and Werst nodded to the others. “The witnesses should now cover the seeds.”

Torin stood back with the jug of water, but Craig, Alamber and Binti all knelt or crouched to scoop handfuls of the dark earth over the seeds. Once they were covered and the hole filled, Binti scraped the last vestiges of loose dirt over the slight mound and patted it down.

“Now the water,” Ressk instructed. “You can pour it all over.”

Like she was handling live munitions, Torin popped the top of the canister and carefully poured the contents over the raw spot of earth. They watched as the thin stream drenched the ground, the puddle it formed quickly absorbing into the thirsty earth beneath.

She shook out the last few drops and then stepped back.

“What now?” Alamber asked softly.

“Just this,” Werst said, towing Ressk back with him to the dark circle of damp soil. In unison, they each press a bare foot into the dirt, leaving firm impressions.

“And, the _Seeding_ is complete. Strong may it grow.”

“Strong may it grow,” Ressk echoed.

It may not have been part of the Krai tradition, but apparently Binti wasn’t going to let that stop her from jeering and taunting until Werst hooked an arm around Ressk’s neck and pulled him in for a firm, thorough kiss.

***~~~***~~~***~~~

Later, after the binary suns had reached their zenith and they’d hiked back from their makeshift camp and made their way back to the small orbital docking station in the shuttle and then onboard the _Promise_ , Werst found Torin in the galley again. There was another opened package of cookies on the table in front of her, next to her slate.

Werst slumped into a seat, but not before pulling the cookies to his side of the table.

“Where’s Ressk?”

“Sleeping,” Werst answered, gesturing toward the crew quarters with a thumb. “That Niln brew finally caught up with him.” He snickered and then broke a cookie in half, munching first one half-crescent then the other.

Torin smiled. “Craig too. I let Alamber take his shift at the helm.”

Werst’s brows went up.

“He volunteered,” she said, and they shared a similarly confused look. “Yeah, I’d have expected him to be the one we needed to carry back to the ship. Instead he was the most sober of us all.”

“Kid’s probably done a lot more partying in his life than we ever did, Gunny,” Werst pointed out.

She blew out a noisy breath. “You’re probably right. Not that we got too wild and out-of-control last night.” Her expression softened into a fond smile. One that Werst didn’t see nearly often enough. “But it was a good night.”

“Definitely,” Werst agreed, feeling no shame whatsoever about the way his own smile pushed into his cheeks. “ _Very_ good night.” He may have added a bit of di’Taykan-style emphasis on that.

Torin rolled her eyes. “I don’t wanna know.”

He laughed, but unlike a di’Taykan, had no desire to share details. Instead he asked, “Still trying to figure out what’s up with the missing cookies?” He debated heating up a pouch of _sah_ , to dunk the cookies in, but decided against it.

“Yeah,” Torin nodded. She was chewing thoughtfully on the edge of her lower lip. Or maybe scraping chocolate off. It was difficult to tell. “It turns out this goes back further than just Centari Station. Even as far as Ventris. Alamber ran the numbers and we’ve been missing things from inventory for months. It’s just been a carton here or a pack there, but there’s a steady pattern…” she trailed off at the smirk Werst couldn’t quite hide. “What?”

“Did you ask Craig?”

“Ask Craig about what?” Torin leaned across the table to rummage through the pack. “The cookies? Why would he know? He left inventory to Binti and Alamber.”

Werst refrained from rolling his eyes, but barely. “He’s got a hidden stash in the cockpit. Didn’t you know that?” Werst _knew_ she didn’t. In fact, the only person who knew it besides Werst was Ressk, and that was because Ressk had been the one to find the loose panel in the bulkhead just to the left of the pilot’s chair.

“He what?”

“Yeah. He likes to snack when he’s piloting solo during down-shift hours.”

Predictably, Torin lowered her own cookie before she could take a bite and fixed Werst with a steady look. “Oh, he does, does he?”

Hefting his shoulders in studied disinterest, Werst just said, “Yep.” He only felt a slight flash of guilt over selling Craig out. He’d apparently found another hiding spot after Ressk had raided his supply one too many times. Weirdly – as Krai noses were far more sensitive than Human - Ressk hadn’t sussed it out yet. And if Craig wasn’t going to share, well… it served him right.

Torin pushed her chair back, feet scraping across the metal deckplate with a screech, and stood. “I think I’ll just have to go ask him about our missing inventory.” Realizing she still had the cookie in her fingers, which might’ve undermined the intimidation factor she was going for, Torin shoved the entire thing into her mouth and started to stalk past him.

Before she reached the doorway, Werst reached out to snag her arm. “Hey, Gunny?” She stopped and looked down at him curiously.

“Ah, just… you know,” he waved his other hand rather aimlessly. “Thanks. For last night and this morning.”

Luckily – for the both of them – she had her mouth full of cookie, so she could only nod. Though she did manage a chocolately grin that made Werst shove her arm away with a feigned scoff. “Eugh, go on. Go yell at Craig for stealing your cookies.”

He watched her go, grinning helplessly, and then picked up the half-empty package and a couple of pouches of sah. His bonded would probably waking up soon… and there was nothing that said they couldn’t continue the celebration, just the two of them.


End file.
